The Overall Boys in Switzerland by Eulalie Osgood Grover

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Title: The Overall Boys in Switzerland

Author: Eulalie Osgood Grover

Illustrator: Bertha Corbett Melcher

Release Date: March 17, 2014 [EBook #45155]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1

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cover

THE OVERALL BOYS IN

SWITZERLAND

The OVERALL BOYS
IN SWITZERLAND

By EULALIE OSGOOD GROVER

Author of "The Sunbonnet Babies' Primer," "The Overall Boys,"

The "Outdoor Primer," "The Sunbonnet Babies in Holland"

ILLUSTRATED BY

BERTHA CORBETT MELCHER

The "Mother of the Sunbonnet Babies and the Overall Boys"

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overall boys lying on the floor reading a map

RAND McNALLY & COMPANY

NEW YORK CHICAGO SAN FRANCISCO

Printed in U. S. A.

Copyright, 1916, by
Eulalie Osgood Grover

All rights reserved

Entered at Stationers' Hall

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To Graham Grover A Real Little Overall Boy

The Contents

PAGE

Three Cheers for Europe
9

On the River Rhine
14

The Bear City
22

Above the Clouds
34

On Mount Rigi
40

Shopping in Lucerne
50

Saturday Evening on Lake Lucerne
58

The Birthday Party
66

William Tell and His Little Son
78

A Visit To Tell's Country
88

Over and through the Mountains
100

Real Trampers
108

On the Trail
118

The Herdsman's Cabin
126

A Summer Blizzard
136

Exploring a Glacier
144

Auf Wiedersehen
150

A Letter
156

A List of Difficult Words
159

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Three Cheers for Europe

map

A map showing the places the Overall Boys visited in Switzerland

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boys at shipyard

THE OVERALL BOYS IN

SWITZERLAND

THREE CHEERS FOR EUROPE

It was the first day of summer, and it was the last day of the ocean trip.

Jack and Joe, two Overall Boys, had crossed the big Atlantic. They were now sailing into a strange city, in a strange

country, with a strange language.

The city was Antwerp. The country was Belgium, and the language was—well, almost anything one cared to speak,

French or German or Dutch or English.

Jack said he should try English first. Then, if people did not understand him, he should use the Dutch words which

the Sunbonnet Babies had taught him. But if people did not understand him then, he should have to keep still, or talk
with his hands.

"Oh! I shall not keep still," said Joe. "I shall speak everything all at once, French and German and Dutch and English.

You just watch me!"

"Ho! ho!" laughed Jack. "We will watch you, and so will all the people in Antwerp. But now watch that great

houseboat. I believe it is like the boat Molly and May's Uncle Dirk owns. A family is living on it. They have a canary
bird and a dog and a cat and flowers, just as they have on Uncle Dirk's boat."

"I should rather go to Holland than to Switzerland," said Joe. "Let's ask the people on that houseboat to take us up

to their Water Land."

"No, sir! I want to go to Switzerland," said Jack. "I want to see the great mountains all covered with snowbanks and

forests and flowers. There is not a mountain in the whole of Holland."

"Look!" shouted Joe. "I see the first castle! We are sailing right up beside it. I wonder if a really, truly King and

Queen are living in it."

"Of course," said Jack, "unless they have been killed and their castle turned into a prison or a museum."

"Do you suppose it has a dark dungeon under it?" asked Joe. "How I should like to see a real dungeon!"

"Come on, father is calling us," said Jack. "Our boat has stopped. It is time to get off."

"Oh! Perhaps father will take us into that old castle, Jack. Then we can see if it really has a dungeon under it," cried

Joe.

So the Overall Boys said good-by to their friends on the ocean steamer. They said good-by to the Captain. They

said good-by to the Cook. The Cook and the Captain were their special friends and they were specially sorry to leave
them.

But the boys had something very important in their minds.

When the heavy plank was pulled over from the dock to the steamer, the two Overall Boys were the first to step on

it. They ran as fast as they could run down the steep plank.

Everybody wondered why those two boys were running so hard. There was plenty of time. No one needed to run.

But in a second everybody knew, for Joe was throwing his cap high into the air and shouting, "Hurrah for Europe!
Three cheers for Antwerp!" And in half a second more Jack was throwing his cap high into the air and shouting three
cheers for Europe, too.

Yes, the Overall Boys were the first in their party to step foot on Europe, and they were the first to give it three

cheers.

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Chauffer and cook

On the River Rhine.

Castle on bank of river

ON THE RIVER RHINE

The next few days were exciting ones for the Overall Boys.

Joe said he knew that he was dreaming, and his dreams were all about castles and kings and queens and strange

languages.

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A high rock above the river

Jack had to tell him very often that he was sailing up the beautiful river Rhine toward Switzerland, that the castles

and the kings and the queens and the strange languages were really true.

"I know that the castles are really here," said Joe, "for I am counting them. Look at that great fort on the hill!"

"Yes," said Jack, "the Captain says if we were their enemies, the soldiers in that fort would not let our boat pass up

the river."

"Well, I am glad we are not their enemies," said Joe. "I don't like the looks of the big guns peeping through those

holes in the fort walls. I like the old castles better."

And so the Overall Boys sailed by castles and still more castles, which were

built high on the banks above the river. Most of them were very old, so old they
were falling to pieces.

Lower down on the river banks there were large vineyards, where the finest

grapes were growing.

Their father told the boys strange stories about the people who once lived in

these old castles. He told them about a beautiful sea maiden who used to sit on a
high rock above the river combing her long, golden hair and singing sweet songs.
He told how brave young men sailed their boats into the dangerous waters to
listen to her songs, and were drowned.

Fortunately the maiden did not sing while the Overall Boys were passing her

rock, so they went safely on their journey.

A little later Jack cried, "Come, Joe, the Captain is going to tell us a story."

"Is he going to tell it in some dreadful, strange language?" asked Joe.

"No, sir!" said Jack. "This Captain knows how to speak English."

"Hello!" called the Captain. "Do you boys like mice? Both of you do! Well, that is brave. I am going to tell you

about a man who did not like mice.

"Do you see that large, round tower just ahead of us? It is built on a rock in the middle of the river. It is called the

Mouse Tower. This is the reason why.

"Once upon a time—I cannot tell you just how long ago, but once upon a time—there lived a rich Bishop. He lived

in a great castle up there on the river bank. He had fine farms, and he made much money. He filled many barns with his
grain, and he kept his gold in strong boxes.

Caslte on bank of river

The Bishop's Mouse Tower built on a rock in the river

"A great many poor people lived near the rich Bishop. He should have taught them how to work and how to pray,

but he did not. He did not even give them grain when they needed it, or gold that they might buy bread.

"One year when the people were very hungry, they begged the Bishop so hard for bread that he could not sleep. He

said they were like a pack of hungry mice.

"At last the Bishop told the beggars to go to an empty barn near by, and he would soon satisfy their wants. So the

people hurried into the barn, and waited for the Bishop to come. He came, but he did not bring them food or gold.

"Oh, no! The selfish Bishop told his servants to set fire to the old barn, and the poor people who were inside soon

stopped crying for food.

"That night while the Bishop was asleep in his castle, he dreamed a strange dream. He dreamed that some hungry

mice were eating a fine picture of himself which hung on his bedroom wall. He watched them until they had torn it all to

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pieces.

"Just then a servant ran into his room and wakened him.

"'O Bishop Hatto! Bishop Hatto!' cried the servant. 'The mice are coming. They are coming out of the hot ashes of

the old barn which we burned last night. They have followed me up to your castle. You must run for your life.'

"So the Bishop jumped on his horse and rode down the hill as fast as he could ride, and the mice ran after him.

When he came to the river the mice were almost upon him.

"The Bishop left his horse and jumped into a small boat. He rowed very hard until he came to that stone tower in the

middle of the river.

"'Now,' said he, 'I am safely away from those miserable mice.'

"But he was not safely away from them, for the mice could swim.

"The Bishop shut himself into the tower and closed the doors and windows. But the mice could gnaw. They ran up

the stone walls and gnawed through the wooden doors. Then they ran down the doors on the inside and found the
wicked Bishop.

"How the Bishop wished that he had been kind to the poor, starving people. How he wished that he had given them

food and gold when they needed it so much. Now it was too late. The hungry people had sent their spirits back in these
hungry mice to punish him as he had punished them.

"And so the old stone tower has been called the Mouse Tower, or Bishop Hatto's Tower, ever since. Now, what

do you think of that for a story?" asked the Captain.

"I tell you, I hope I never shall be such a mean old Bishop as he was!" said Joe.

"And I am glad he is not living now!" said Jack.

Soon the Overall Boys had sailed as far up the beautiful river Rhine as their big boat would take them. They had

seen so many old castles, and they had heard so many strange stories about them, the boys felt as if they had just
passed through a really, truly Fairyland—and perhaps they had.

castle on a hill

The Bear City

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Village beside river

THE BEAR CITY

"Hello, Jack! Hello, Joe!" called the boys' father very early one morning. "Wake up! Wake up and give the bears

their breakfast."

"Oh, dear! Where are we?" cried Joe. "I'm so sleepy! Where are the bears? I don't see any."

"I know where we are," said Jack. "We are in the city of Bern, where the bear cave is."

"Good! We are in Switzerland at last," cried Joe, running to the window. "But where is the snow? I thought the

mountains in Switzerland were all covered with snow! These mountains are covered with green trees."

"These are not the real mountains, Joe," said Jack. "The great snow-covered mountains are farther away. I guess

we shall see them before long. I heard some one say that, on a clear day, the view of the snow-covered Alps from this
city is one of the finest in all Switzerland, and that the sunsets here are wonderful. But let's have our breakfast now."

"All right," said Joe. "Then let's be off to hunt for the bears. But why do the people keep bears right in the middle of

their city?"

"Father says it is because a bear was killed on this spot just before the city was built," said Jack. "So the people

named the city Bern. They have kept a few bears in a large pit here ever since, and that is more than four hundred
years."

"Do let's hurry and find their cave!" cried Joe.

So the Overall Boys were soon hurrying through the busy streets of the Bear City. In the middle of many of the

streets they saw fine, large fountains. Above the center of some of the fountains were the figures of famous men, while
plants and flowers were growing in others.

In a few of the beautiful fountains women were doing their washing. They placed the soiled clothes on boards by the

edge of the clear water. Then they soaped the clothes well, and pounded them with flat stones, and rinsed them up and
down until they were quite clean.

women carrying washing from town fountain

An odd way to do the family washing

It was certainly an odd way to do a family washing; at least, so the Overall Boys thought.

There was one fountain which interested the boys more than any of the others. Above the center of this fountain

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stood the stone figure of a strange looking man, who was holding a stone baby in his hands. He was about to bite the
baby's head right off. Other babies were hanging from the ugly man's belt and peeping from his pockets.

It is called the fountain of the Child-eater, and naughty children never like to pass very near it. But the Overall Boys

knew that the stone Child-eater could not hurt them, so they laughed at the old fellow and hurried on.

Statue of giant eating babies

The Child-eater

It was not long before the boys were racing across a great stone bridge leading to the deep hole in the ground where

the bears lived. Joe reached the pit first.

"Hurrah! I see three of them," he cried, leaning over the high rail above the pit. "See that baby bear beg for

something to eat! Go to the fruit stand, Jack, and buy some carrots to feed him. Father says bears like carrots."

Bears down in pit with people looking down at them

The boys threw the carrots, one at a time, over the wall into the pit

So Jack ran to the fruit stand near by and bought a big bunch of carrots. The boys threw the carrots, one at a time,

over the wall into the pit, and how they shouted and laughed to see the bears catch and eat them, just like big, brown
boys.

Sometimes one bear would catch more than his share of the carrots. Then the other bears would chase him about

until they made him climb up a tall tree in the middle of the pit. He did not dare to come down until his bear friends had
eaten all they wanted. If he tried to do so, they chased him quickly back again.

"Look!" cried Joe. "I have found an orange in my pocket. I am going to throw it down to the bear that is waving his

paw at me. Watch him catch it."

"Watch him!" shouted Jack. "He didn't catch it. The bear near him knocked him over as quick as a wink, and caught

the orange himself."

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"See, he is climbing up the tree with it! Isn't he a selfish old bear!"

"Look at the bear in the little pond of water," cried Jack. "He is playing ball with the other bear. Now the other bear

has jumped into the pond, too. See them box each other's ears! And see them roll over and over in the water! Oh, I
never, never saw anything so funny!"

"I believe they are real boys dressed up in bear skins," said Joe. "I never thought bears could act so much like boys."

"Mother says she never thought boys could act so much like bears," said Jack.

The boys watched the bears nearly all the forenoon. Joe said he hadn't laughed so much since his last football game

in America. He wished that he could live in Bern always, and feed the bears every morning.

"I'm getting hungry myself," said Jack at last. "Let's buy some gingerbread bears to eat. There is a window full of

them over in that store."

Then away the boys ran and bought gingerbread bears of all sizes—father bears and mother bears and little baby

bears and dancing bears and stiff soldier bears.

Jack and Joe were sure they had never eaten anything in all their lives so good as those gingerbread bears.

"Come on, now!" cried Jack. "Father has some more fun for us. He wants us to go down the street with him to see a

queer old clock tower."

"I know what it is," said Joe. "He told us about it the other day. We can hear the cock crow and see the bears

parade, if we are there on time."

boys running through village

"Then let's run!" said Jack. So the boys raced around corners and under arches

"Then let's run!" said Jack. "It is almost twelve o'clock now."

So the boys raced back over the great stone bridge. They raced around corners and under arches and along

covered sidewalks, until they came to a low tower which arched right over the sidewalk.

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town clock just before noon

The boys reached the tower just as the large clock near the top said five minutes before twelve

The large round clock near the top of the tower said five minutes before twelve. On the wall below the clock sat a

queer little bronze man holding an hourglass in his hand.

At the left of the man stood a bronze cock and at his right a bronze dragon. Suddenly the Overall Boys saw the

cock flap his wings and wag his head and cry, "Cock-a-doodle-doo!"

A moment later two bronze giants up in the top of the tower struck the great bell with their hammers twelve times.

The cock wagged his head and flapped his wings and again crowed, "Cock-a-doodle-doo!" Then a small clown rang a
tiny bell and a procession of bears began marching just below the old man.

Some of the bears carried little guns and swords, and one bear rode on a tiny horse.

When the clock in the top of the tower stopped striking, the procession stopped marching, and the old man turned

his hourglass upside down. The dragon wagged his head, and the cock crowed, "Cock-a-doodle-doo!" Then all was
still. Yes, it was very still. The Overall Boys were thinking.

At last Joe said, "I wish I could take that clock back to America. I should like to show it to the Sunbonnet Babies. I

am sure they didn't see anything half as strange as that in Holland."

"Well, they will have to come to Bern if they want to see it," said Jack. "You can't pack that great tower in your

trunk."

"Father is calling us," said Joe. "He says we shall have just time to eat dinner before we must take the train. Where

do you suppose we are going next?"

clock with parts described

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Above the Clouds

Boys in mountains looking down at clouds

ABOVE THE CLOUDS

"See it pour! And just hear the thunder!" said Joe, looking out of the car window. "It sounds as if giants were rolling

rocks down the mountain sides. I hope they will not hit our train."

"Look! The train is stopping," said Jack. "The conductor says we must all get out here and take another train. How

can we change while it is pouring so hard!"

The rain was really pouring down so fast that umbrellas were of no use at all. But the Overall Boys ran to the end of

the platform and climbed into the high front seat of a queer little car.

It was certainly the strangest car the boys had ever seen. It was built so that one end was much higher than the other

end, and people had to go up some steps to get into it.

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tram up the mountain

"We are climbing right up the side of a mountain"

In a few moments the little train was moving slowly up the steep track.

"Where do you suppose we are going?" cried Joe. "I believe we are climbing right up the side of a mountain. My!

How it rains! I guess we are up among the clouds."

"We shall soon be up above the clouds," said Jack. "We are climbing Mount Rigi. We are going to stay all night on

the mountain, too."

And so it happened. The train was soon pulled up the steep mountain side until it was above the rain and the wet

clouds. The sun was shining brightly up there, but the valleys below were covered with a thick white blanket.

At last the sun and the wind began to carry great pieces of the cloud blanket high into the sky. Through the openings

in the clouds, below them the boys could see tiny villages and blue lakes.

And away down below, hanging in the soft white clouds, was a rainbow—all red and orange and yellow and green

and blue and violet.

"Look! We are above the rainbow bridge!" cried Joe. "If only I could jump over on it, I could slide right down to the

earth again."

"Why, you are on the earth now," said Jack.

"Oh, so I am! But isn't it wonderful up here!"

The boys watched the fluffy clouds blow far away, carrying the lovely rainbow with them. And they watched the

great red sun drop down behind the snow-covered mountains in the west.

boys standing on lookout

The boys watched the fluffy clouds blow far away

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